Page 48 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

I had Fluffy sniff the body then collected what evidence I could, which was limited to a dirt sample from thevictim’s boots. There was no extra hair this time. ‘Have we identified the victim?’ I asked Leif as I worked.

‘His name was Evgard Appleton.’

‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ I told him. He nodded but his face remained hard and unmoving. ‘What did Evgard do?’ I asked.

‘He mined, but most of the time he was in an office. He was the local head of the union, the Alaska Miners’ Association.’

‘A union?’ I looked at Thomas. I had no idea how unions worked when you lived in a hidden paranormal town, but people seemed to have ways to connect with the outside world while keeping us secret. Thomas’s expression said he’d explain later.

‘Yeah, we have a union. We aren’t animals,’ Leif bit out.

‘I didn’t mean to imply…’ I trailed off. Thomas had been right: tensions were high and everything I was doing was making Leif angrier. I needed to do my job and vamoose. ‘Did Evgard have any kind of relationship with Alfgar or Helmud?’

‘Besides working in the same mine? Not that I know of. I’d have to talk with another AMA officer to see if there were any complaints or claims relevant to them.’

‘If you could send me the names of the union reps, I’d be grateful,’ I said firmly. Leif grunted. ‘As soon as you can, please,’ Iadded. He glared at me, pursed his lips but nodded.

‘You all done Sidnee?’ I asked.

She nodded. ‘I don’t think there’s any more we can do here, unless we can take the body?’

‘No,’ Leif said firmly.

‘Then we’re finished.’ I turned to Fluffy. ‘Can you get a scent, see if we can follow it?’

He smelled the body and moved away, pausing to look back to make sure we were plunging into the tunnels after him. I really didn’t want to.

Thomas frowned. ‘Leif, stay with the body. Baldred said someone was coming for it shortly.’ Leif nodded stonily.

We followed Fluffy until he stopped abruptly and whined. He’d lost the scent. ‘Where does this route lead?’ I asked Thomas.

‘It’s a little-known route to the tailings,’ he replied.

The lighting was now sparse. ‘All right, I don’t fancy delving in deeper. Can you lead us back to the main route and out of here?’

‘Of course, follow me.’ Thomas escorted us out.

As we walked back to the car park, I was so relieved to see the sky even though it was bright sunlight.

Adrenaline spiked through me as we approached the SUV. There were glass shards on the ground around itand the back window was broken. Shadow! Panicking, I dashed to the car. Shadow could be hurt – or worse! It didn’t bear thinking about.

As I arrived, panting, I realised that the glass had been pushedoutwards, not inwards. A new panic gripped me and I flipped open the back door. Shadow’s cage was nothing more than plastic goo melted into the rubber mat. My lynx had done something like this before at the academy when his shadow had lifted off him and melted his cute little Nomo vest.

Now he’d done it again.

Shadow was gone.

Chapter 29

I looked desperately as Thomas, who was a few steps behind me. ‘What’s wrong?’ he panted.

‘Shadow’s gone.’

‘Taken?’

‘No, he escaped, and he’s…’ I didn’t know how to finish. He was a cat through and through, but he was something else as well – somethingother. I didn’t know what he’d been thinking or if he’d just been tired of being cooped up. I turned to Fluffy. ‘Can you find him, boy?’

He looked at me, whined then started searching. Puffing a little, Sidnee caught up. ‘What’s up?’

---